World Cup Fever

At the recent Africa Cup of Nations, the Portuguese coach led Cameroon to the bronze medal on home soil in the continental finals. He also ensured Cameroon maintain a chance to progress to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, but those feats were not enough to keep him at the helm of the West African nation after the authorities revealed that Song would be appointed as the new manager.

Sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi said Cameroonian president Paul Biya has ordered the national football federation to give the job to ex-Liverpool defender Song. In a statement released by Kombi, on very high instructions from the President of the Republic, the coach of the men’s national football team, Mr Antonio Conceicao, has been replaced by Rigobert Song,

The only time that the Canadian National team had been at the World Cup was far back in 1986. Then the World Cup was still a 24-team format competition, with the team failing to win a single game. Since then the nation has failed to secure qualification at the games which have been a huge cause of concern.

Things are about to change this time, as the team has almost sealed participation in the World Cup in Qatar. John Herdmen’s side has been the most impressive team in 2021, and they have are almost close to achieving the world cup qualification. There are three automatic places up for grabs in the CONCACAF standings with Canada currently in first place. Canada has already secured a fourth-place finish, with the fourth-place team facing the winners in Oceania in a single qualifying game.

Bolivia marksman Marcelo Moreno and Brazilian star Neymar are at the top of the list of goalscorers in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers as far as the South American region is concerned.

Moreno has been in very good form for Bolivia who are surprisingly still in contention to bag a spot in Qatar later this year. The Bolivians are in eighth position on the South American standings ahead of the World Cup 2022 tournament after recording 15 points from 14 games, but significantly, they are two points off fifth-placed Peru who occupy the inter-confederation playoffs spot and also two points off Colombia in fourth place which is the last automatic spot for the teams in South America.

Turkey have their sights set on the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar, but they have to go through a difficult playoff route to achieve it. The Turkish team will have to go through the playoffs if they want to qualify as one of the 32 teams for the World Cup 2022 tournament.

At the end of the first round qualifiers for the World Cup 2022 tournament in the European section, Turkey finished second behind the Netherlands in their group. To this effect, Turkey sealed a playoff spot, while the Netherlands secured their passage to Qatar automatically as one of the ten group winners in the first round of the European qualifiers for the tournament.

The Paris Saint Germain (PSG) duo of Lionel Messi and Neymar are widely regarded as the best two players in South America. However, the two PSG superstars are not the leader on the South American scoring chart for the World Cup 2022 qualifiers as that honour belongs to veteran Bolivia striker Marcelo Moreno.

Bolivia striker Moreno has scored eight goals in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the CONMEBOL region despite failing to score in the three games played last month. Moreno still leads the South American region for the most goals scored in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers after failing to score against Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay last month

Two-time world champions Argentina have moved within six points of leaders Brazil on the South American standings ahead of the World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar after the dominant win over Uruguay. The Argentines led by the great Lionel Messi thrashed Uruguay at home to close the gap on arch rivals Brazil. When it comes to South American football, Brazil and Uruguay are the two major rivals for Argentina.

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) superstar Lionel Messi scored the first Argentina goal as rivals Uruguay were beaten 3-0 by their hosts. Argentina had goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to thank for keeping the Uruguayans at bay in the first half hour. The Aston Villa shot stopper denied Uruguay a few times before Messi shot the home team into the lead on 38 minutes.

Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo De Paul was one of the best players on the pitch and he was able to seal an impressive first half performance with a second Argentina goal just before the halftime break. The goal from ex-Udinese player De Paul came with a minute left on the clock and it was for his team to establish a two-goal lead at the interval.

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Brazil have suffered yet another setback in their hopes to play their upcoming World Cup qualifying fixtures. The Selecaosuffered a major setback earlier in the week when they were told by the English Premier League that their players who ply their trade in the division would not be allowed to travel to South America because of the coronavirus complications.

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The Premier League blocked South American players from traveling to the continent because it has been considered to be a red zone and they made it clear that it could be very easy for the virus to be contracted from any country in South America, including Brazil and Uruguay.

Veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has revealed that he wishes to represent Italy at the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar next year. The former Juventus goalkeeper revealed this in a recent interview on his New club, Parma's official website, adding that he does not feel so old and would still like to have another shot at the World Cup by participating next year.

Buffon left Juventus this summer and sealed a return to his boyhood club Parma where he started his professional career, insisting that he wants to finish his career there. Buffon has won almost every trophy available to be won in his career judging by where he has played but he is yet to lift the UEFA Champions League title even though he has tried his best to.

The countdown to the prestigious FIFA World Cup tournament for next year has continued and there are still so many reasons to be excited ahead of the competition hosting its very first fixture. Different countries that will be participating in the tournament have continued to make preparations in terms of player selection strategies and the likes. Players have also not been left out in the preparations, with a lot of them already looking forward to the competition. And making sure that they continue to remain important figures at their current clubs.

Peru have made a poor start to the World Cup 2022 qualifiers in the CONMEBOL region but they can redeem themselves when they travel to Lima to take on an Ecuador team with the third best result in the qualifiers.

Only Brazil and Argentina have more points than Ecuador in the South American section of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers after the first five games. Five-time world champions Brazil have the maximum of 15 points from five games and are the top team in the region ahead of Argentina in second place. The Argentines have 11 points and are two points away from Ecuador in third place. Paraguay complete the top four teams with seven points from the first five matches.